Betald

Betald is a Swedish adjective meaning “paid” or “remunerated.” It is derived from the verb betala, which translates as “to pay.” In Swedish grammar, betald is the past participle form and functions as an attributive adjective, modifying nouns to indicate that a service, fee, or compensation has been settled. The word agrees in gender and number with the nouns it describes: betald (common gender singular), betalt (neuter singular), betalda (plural for both genders).

In everyday usage, betald appears in contexts such as betald tjänst (a paid service), betald semester (paid vacation), and betald ledighet (paid leave). The term is also employed in legal and financial documents to denote transactions that have been completed, for example, betald skatt (paid tax) or betald faktura (paid invoice). In the Swedish labor market, “betald” contrasts with “obetalda” (unpaid) and is a key element in collective bargaining agreements that specify wage levels and compensation for various forms of work.

Historically, the participial form betald has been part of Swedish since the language’s Old Norse roots, where the verb bæta meant “to improve” and later evolved into the modern sense of payment. Modern Swedish maintains the regular pattern for past participles, adding –d or –t depending on the verb’s stem and the noun’s gender.

Betald is also occasionally used as a surname or a brand name, though such usages are relatively rare and typically unrelated to the adjective’s linguistic meaning. In all cases, the core concept remains tied to the notion of remuneration or the completion of a financial obligation.